


The Story Of Us

by partimeobsession



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24200995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partimeobsession/pseuds/partimeobsession
Summary: Daichi Sawamura was drenched. And that was the last thing he needed to be today.He stood in the doorway of the library, water dripping from his clothes and making darker wet spots on the carpeted floor. Looking around at the people lounging at the tables reading books or with their faces buried in laptops, he could see that he wasn't the only innocent civilian who had been attacked by the pouring rain outside. This should have brought him some sense of reassurance now that he didn't have to feel embarassed that he would've been the only one doused, but adding the fact of being soaking wet to his already-sour mood,  he was not, as you could say, a happy camper. Or a happy college student, but he supposed that the point of college wasn't exactly to be happy.Now, you might be wondering, Hey, Daichi, what was so bad about today anyways? Well, let's start from the top.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 33





	1. Books About Murder.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ This is the first DaiSuga fanfiction I'm ever posting online, so please have mercy on me. It's changed a lot since the first draft, but it's one of the fanfictions that I wrote that I think are somewhat decent, so please enjoy if this is your thing!

Reasons why today is exceptionally full of crap:

The alarm clock that usually sits on Daichi's bedside table was broken in courtesy of his roommate Kotaro Bokuto chucking it across the room one morning, and Daichi himself hadn't had a morning alarm set for himself on his phone, so he was late to his first morning class. Let's just say that aside from having to listen to one, long, monotonous hour of a lecture on biochemistry and cellular biology, the students had to take notes for an upcoming exam, so he couldn't even sneak in a wink of extra sleep during class. He might not look it most of the time, but Daichi was actually quite a responsible student. Maybe not the best, but he kept up. Barely.

During a break between classes, Daichi thought he should go wake himself up with a nice cup of coffee from the Starbucks on campus. When he walked in, three people bumped into him without even mumbling an apology, he had to repeat his order to the barista at least five times, and on his way out, hot drink in hand, a first-year kid with bright orange hair tripped in front of him due to being shoved by a taller boy with black hair and he spilled his iced coffee all over Daichi. Because of that, Daichi had to hurry to his dorm to change his clothes and then chug his coffee on his way to his next class so he'd be on time. So much for a slightly-peaceful break.

On top of all that, when he finally thought he would be able to relax at the end of his day, all he wanted to do was finish up his psychology essay in peace (especially before Bokuto got home), but of course, something had to hold him off of that too. Just as Daichi sat down on his bed, laptop on his lap with his uncompleted essay open on the screen, a notification for an email popped up on the bottom right corner of the screen. He figured there would be no harm in checking it, so he clicked on it. His eyebrows furrowed when he couldn't recognize the email address, but it only got worse as his eyes went past the subject line:

>> _We wanted to inform you that the book you checked out is overdue and needs to be returned. If it isn't turned in by closing time today, we will have to charge you for every day it's late..._

 _Wait, WHAT? This is from the public library?_ Daichi squinted at his computer screen, leaning in closer to check if he had read it correctly. Unfortunately, he had. But it didn't make any sense. The book the email was addressing was only checked out a few days ago, and even if it had to be turned it, it would be automatically renewed if it wasn't on hold at all. And if there was a due date, it wouldn't be this soon...

He leaned back, rubbing his face with a slow breath. What was he going to do about this? He really needed this book for is paper (along with citation) and this wasn't really the kind of thing you could just Google. Also, he wasn't really in any situation to be in debt on top of all his school expenses, even if it's just to the library. He sighed. He would have to go down to the library and settle this out himself then. He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and wiggled his feet back into his worn sneakers. He got the apparently-due library book from his bag before shrugging on a jacket and exiting his dorm room, locking the door behind himself before taking off.

____ 

Daichi had left the building and headed towards the bus stop right down the street. Truthfully, the library wasn't that far from the college, it was just down the street, but Daichi really didn't feel like walking there. He just wanted to sit and rest for one second. Just one. One, amazing, glorious, calm second. All to himself. Without late classes or coffee being spilled all over him or annoying emails from the public library-

And that's when it started to rain.

Daichi looked up from under the awning of the bus stop, watching the rain turn from a light drizzle to sheets and buckets of water pouring from the sky. "You've got to be kidding me.." he muttered. If this day got any worse, he'd rip his hair out. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and contemplated what to do. It was only around five o'clock, but the sky was dark due to the heavy rain and clouds. The library closed at six according to what he remembered the sign saying the last time he was there, and it sure didn't look like the bus was coming anytime soon, so if he wanted to make it on time, he'd have to face the rain.

He sucked in a breath and tucked his book into his jacket because even though the cover was laminated, if he was going to get charged for an over-due book, he sure as hell wasn't going to get charged for a water-damaged book too. He zipped his jacket up to his chin and stepped out into the rain, arms wrapped tightly around himself so the book wouldn't fall while he bolted down the sidewalk.

He only paused at the intersection while he waited for the white crosswalk light to come on for him. He blinked water out of his eyes, but it wasn't any use since he was already soaked to the bone. His clothes clung to his skin like plastic wrap and he wasn't looking forward to the cold he'd probably catch by the time he got back home. The cars the passed in front of him stopped for the red light and the crosswalk sign lit up white. Daichi ran to the sidewalk on the other side, hurrying down the block.

He turned his direction into a small parking lot and there was the library. He weaved between a few parked cars and dodged someone backing out of a parking spot before finally reaching the concrete landing in front of the library. He didn't hesitate to rush inside, the automatic doors opening for him. Once he was inside, he tore the hood of his head with a small grumble when wet hair fell into his eyes. He pulled out the book he had been hugging to his chest from under his zipped jacket to find it (somewhat) dry. He rubbed his forehead, not sure if he should feel relieved that he managed to make it, or annoyed because he came all this way and suffered through pouring rain just because of a book.

Daichi Sawamura was drenched. And that was the last thing he needed to be today.

He stood in the doorway of the library, water dripping from his clothes and making darker wet spots on the carpeted floor. Looking around at the people lounging at the tables reading books or with their faces buried in laptops, he could see that he wasn't the only innocent civilian who had been attacked by the pouring rain outside. This should have brought him some sense of reassurance now that he didn't have to feel embarrassed that he would've been the only one doused, but adding the fact of being soaking wet to his already-sour mood, he was not, as you could say, a happy camper. Or a happy college student, but he supposed that the point of college wasn't exactly to be happy.

All this work for a book he'd probably never use ever again- a book that he needed just for some stupid college paper. He sighed.

Alright, Daichi, he told himself. Let's just go ask why the hell this book is apparently due today and depending on how that goes, we can go home, hopefully finish the paper, then get at least four hours of sleep. He made his way to the service counter where he hoped someone could help him figure out what was going on with this book.

"Excuse me," he said to the guy behind the counter. He looked the same age as Daichi with slightly-messy brown hair that curled out at the ends and square glasses resting on his nose. And he was, for a fact, totally dry compared to him. The guy ignored him, face in his work computer.

Daichi blinked slowly. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. "Excuse me," he said, a bit louder this time. His clothes dripped a puddle on to the carpet.

The guy behind the counter responded with a mere, "Hmm?" without glancing up from the computer monitor.

Daichi slammed the book down on the counter to get his attention and the guy jumped, looking at him and yelping, "What the heck, man?!"

A few people looked over and shushed them, but Daichi ignored them and resisted the urge to scream. "I have a question about this book." He held the book up with a strained smile.

"Uh- okay.." the guy said slowly, raising an eyebrow at Daichi's wet clothes distastefully. "Like what?"

"I got an email not too long ago about this book being overdue even though I checked it out only a few days ago." Daichi held up the book for him to see the cover.

The guy gave it a small glance then looked back at his computer and clicked around a bit before saying, "Yes, I know, I'm the one who sent it." He said, then sat back in his chair and pushed his glasses up. "Well, I don't know what to say. It's overdue, Sawamura-chan."

Daichi cringed in annoyance. "I only checked it out a few days ago, it can't be due this soon."

"But it is."

"But it can't be."

"But it is."

"What's going on over here?" Another voice chimed in. Both Daichi and the guy behind the counter turned to it and- Woah.

A boy his age with ash blonde hair smiled softly at the both of them. He had gentle features and a small beauty mark near the outer corner of his left eye. The gentle smile he put on matched with the collar of a white button-down shirt peeking out from under a periwinkle-blue sweater gave off a sort of motherly aura, and Daichi thought it was quite cute. He spaced out for a moment while admiring him, his little bisexual heart doing backflips in his chest, and he was only brought back down to earth by the other annoying guy saying, "Well, I was just telling my friend here that his book is overdue, but he seems to have a problem with it."

Daichi did not appreciate being called his friend, but he was busy staring at this new, endearing stranger.

"Oikawa-kun," the gray-haired boy said. "I hope you weren't patronizing him." He looked at him with disapproving hazel eyes.

"I wasn't! _He_ was patronizing _me_!" the guy - Oikawa - said, and the boy sighed.

"Move. I'll take over from here." The boy motioned for Oikawa to get out of the rolling chair and Oikawa whined.

"Suga-chan! Don't do this to meeeeee-"

"You're making a ruckus. Get up." The boy - apparently named Suga -scolded. Oikawa stood up from the cushioned rolling-chair reluctantly and Suga took his place. "Go organize the shelves in the kids' section, they were a bit messy the last time I passed by."

Oikawa groaned and trudged off to go do his newly-assigned task. Suga finally faced Daichi, giving him an apologetic smile, his eyebrows knitting together slightly. "Sorry about him. He's still learning how to manage working here."

Even though Suga was the one apologizing, the way he smiled made Daichi feel guilty. He wanted to be the one apologizing, saying that it wasn't a big deal and that he shouldn't have bothered in the first place, but he shook those thoughts out of his head. "It's alright, I think we all know the feeling of working somewhere new." Daichi managed a smile.

Suga looked down and grinned, biting his lip as if trying to hide it, which Daichi thought was totally adorable. His pulse stuttered out of rhythm as Suga looked back up at him, the remains of a smile on his face. "So, I believe this has something to do with an overdue book?"

"Yeah," Daichi said, then cringed when he heard how hoarse his voice sounded. He cleared his throat. "I mean, yeah. I got an email earlier today about this book being overdue, but I only checked it out a few days ago."

Suga pursed his pink lips at that before turning his attention to the computer monitor. After a few clicks of the mouse and a troubled expression appearing on his face, he looked back up at Daichi with a sigh. "I see now. I never should have let Oikawa-kun have access to a computer here in the first place." Suga gave him an apologetic smile once again. "I'm sorry, it was a mistake. I put Oikawa-kun on duty today to send out emails, but it looks like he wasn't very attentive. Someone else checked out a different copy of the same book you have and I can only assume that he didn't see the difference of who he was emailing. He meant to notify the other person, not you."

Daichi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I would've been shit out of luck without this book."

Suga smiled faintly. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I take full responsibility for whatever trouble this caused for you." Daichi figured he noticed his wet clothes.

"It's no problem," Daichi assured him. For some reason, he felt the need to make Suga's worried expression to disappear, even if that meant denying that today was horrible. "I'm just glad it wasn't actually overdue."

Suga's expression softened into another smile and Daichi felt relief wash over him. He felt like he'd accomplished some sort of great achievement by making Suga smile again. He couldn't help that a grin urged it's way on to his face when he felt his body get warm all over. Suga seemed like the kind of person who's mood just rubbed off on everyone else, which Daichi didn't mind one bit since this is the first real smile anyone had gotten out of him all day.

Some time had passed, but Daichi and Suga had just been there, smiling at each other for what seemed like hours. Daichi was dragged out of his haze by Suga's silvery voice saying, "We're closing soon, but is there anything I could help you with before that?"

Suga's lips pressed into a sweet smile but Daichi only blinked. Was it even possible for someone to smile that much? "Uhh.." Daichi said. _Technically_ , he didn't need anything else, but...

"Actually, yeah, if you wouldn't mind."

Suga gave him an encouraging nod, so Daichi continued, quickly coming up with a lie that would make Suga talk to him a bit longer. He wanted to see his smile again. "I was wondering if you could recommend any books? About, uh... murder?"

Suga blinked up at Daichi, looking a bit surprised. Daichi realized what he said probably would've set off red flags. Shit. "Err- sorry, that came out wrong. I'm not a psycho, I swear." He was really fucking this up.

But Suga laughed a little - a warm, tinkling sound. "I assumed you were referring to murder-mystery, but now I think I should be worried about you." He raised his eyebrows at Daichi but his mouth was left in a playful smile.

Daichi rubbed the back of his neck with one hand nervously, the other still resting on the counter beside the book he had originally come here with. "Yeah. That's what I meant. Murder-mystery." His sentences came out in little spurts now, only reflecting his inner-anxiety despite how confident he was trying to act.

Suga stood from the rolling computer chair. "Well, since there isn't a line for help, I'll take you to show you first-hand." He smiled before turning his head to a younger boy with darker hair fading into blonde who was seemingly sorting through a box of books, but from where Daichi stood he could see the boy using his phone out of Suga's view. "Kenma-san, can you watch the counter while I take care of something? I won't be gone long."

The boy - who Daichi now knew as Kenma - responded with a small, "Mhmm," without looking up.

Suga squinted. "I know you're on your phone, Kenma-kun. I thought we talked this- you can't be texting during your shifts."

Kenma looked up at Suga dully, his gaze going between him and Daichi. "And I thought we talked about not bringing your love life to work."

Daichi's face heated up slightly and Kenma only blinked as Suga walked over, plucked his phone out of his hands, and put it in a drawer. "You won't get your phone back until closing time. Keep sorting." Daichi could swear that the tips of Suga's ears had gotten a bit pink.

Once Kenma obediently went back to sorting through the box of books, Suga turned to face Daichi with a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that."

"No biggie." Daichi watched as Suga walked to the end of the counter before looking at him again.

"Just follow me," Suga motioned for him with a small smile.

 _I will_ , Daichi thought, sliding his book off the counter. _I'd follow you anywhere._

As Suga led him between occupied tables and to narrow aisles of books, Daichi decided he should make some conversation. "So, you're Suga, right?"

"Well, yes. Sugawara, if you want my full last name, but most people call me Suga," he replied, making a sudden stop in the middle of an aisle and leaning down to look at books on a lower shelf.

"You're kind of motherly," Daichi blurted, his mouth getting the better of him.

Suga gave a breathy little laugh as he straightened up, a soft-cover book in his hand now. "Yeah, I get that a lot. I was just raised to fuss over everything and care about the smallest things." He pursed and looked at Daichi, eyes directed at his wet jacket. "You should probably take that off if you don't want to catch a cold." He looked down at the book in his hands then leaned back down to push it back on to the shelf.

Daichi supposed Suga was right, so he pulled off his jacket quickly as if that would make the possibility of a cold disappear faster. He grimaced at how wet his clothes still were and he supposed that if he turned around, there'd be a path of water stains on the carpet behind him. Either way, he tied his jacket around his waist.

Suga stood up again, a different book in his hand. "I know the title might look a little cliche, but-" he paused when he looked at Daichi, his eyes specifically seeming to pass over his chest, before looking away suddenly. He coughed softly and Daichi saw a pink flush rise to the boy's cheeks.

Daichi looked down at himself, confused as to why Suga had turned away like that. But then he realized. Due to how wet his clothes were, his shirt stuck to his chest and stomach to show his toned muscles. He flushed. No wonder Suga looked away. He pulled at his shirt so it wouldn't cling to him as much and mumbled a small, "Sorry-"

Suga cleared his throat before continuing what he was saying previously, his tone steady, but it was obvious he was pointedly avoiding eye contact with Daichi. "This one is one of my personal favorites. It keeps you interested, but it doesn't make you feel like you're on an edge. It has a good plot and a main character who-" he paused, and even though he wasn't looking at Daichi, Daichi hoped it wasn't because of his shirt again.

"I'm sorry," Suga said, sounding sheepish. He finally looked up at Daichi, his amber eyes having an extra glimmer to them now. "I could stand here and talk about this for hours, but I guess I should just shut up and let you read it yourself." He held the book out to Daichi.

"So, I guess you like books?" Daichi asked, taking the book from Suga's hands gingerly.

"Well, I do work at a library," Suga said, smiling slightly.

"Oh, yeah. I guess that would give it away." Daichi said, rubbing his neck again. Couldn't he find something to say that wasn't obvious or stupid?

"There's more than one book by the way," Suga said after a few moments of silence had passed.

"How many more?" Daichi raised an eyebrow.

"My lips are sealed," Suga made a zipping motion over his lips. "I'll let you figure that out yourself."

Daichi couldn't help but chuckle a bit. He could see from only his few minutes with Suga that he was very animated - like every sentence had a different facial expression of emotion. He opened his mouth to say something, but Suga had looked down at his watch and said, "Jeez, it's 5:45 already? Time really flies." He looked up at Daichi with a rueful smile. "Sorry, I have some things to do before closing time. Is there anything else you needed help finding?"

Daichi wanted to reach out and smooth the slight crease in Suga's brow, but, of course, he didn't. "No, but thank you." He held up the book Suga had graciously recommended. "I look forward to seeing what your taste in books is," he said with a lilt of a joking tone.

"You'd be surprised," Suga's mouth turned to a smug smile and one eyebrow became raised. "I've read some pretty dark things."

Daichi chuckled again and a girl with long, dark hair and glasses at the end of the aisle, presumably a worker, was tucking chairs into a table when she called, "Sugawara-kun, don't forget to log-out and turn off all the computers before we close."

Suga turned towards her and said, "I'm on it, Shimizu. Thanks for the reminder," He faced Daichi again, "Well, duty calls. I'll see you around, um..." his voice lingered and Daichi jumped in quickly.

"Daichi. Daichi Sawamura," he mentally kicked himself for not saying his name sooner.

"I'll see you around, Daichi Sawamura." Suga smiled and waved over his shoulder before leaving him alone in the aisle.

Daichi let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, but it had sounded more like a dreamy little sigh. He looked down at the two books in his hands - one was the book Suga had suggested, and the other was the book he needed for his psychology paper. He smiled to himself.

Reasons why today was exceptionally full of crap:

He'd barely gotten three hours of sleep and he was late to his first morning lecture, some kid spilled his iced coffee all over him, and he suffered in the pouring rain for a book that wasn't really overdue in the first place.

Reasons why today was the slightest bit okay:

He'd met a boy he just might fall for. Just the tiniest bit.


	2. The Time Will Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Suga-chan, are you crushing on someone?” Oikawa questioned, his voice dropping into a serious tone and his shoulders becoming stiff. 
> 
> “Unfortunately for you, no,” Koushi cracked a smile, then snorted when Oikawa’s shoulders gave in to a slump. The brunette lived for drama and, lately, Koushi hadn’t been the one to provide anything to fuel the other man’s need for constant action. “I was just thinking about someone who came in with an overdue book a few days ago.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely not me taking seven months to write the second chapter of this fic-  
> I'm sorry I took so long, I know a few people were waiting for a second chapter. Hopefully, they're still around and willing to come back and read this despite the wait. This is short compared to the first chapter, but I hope that's okay. Anyways, enjoy! (☉‿☉✿)

When something important to you is missing, it becomes quite apparent that it's gone. For example, if you lost a ring your lover gave you, you'd probably spend the whole day searching for it around your house until it was found. Or if you lost your phone, you'd most likely ask your friend to call your number for you so it would be easier to find. For Koushi Sugawara, he was in search of his favorite blue ballpoint pen. 

It wasn't a pen he'd gotten from a gift shop while on vacation, and it wasn't a gel pen that wrote smoothly, it was simply a cheap pen he'd found around the library that he decided to keep. It fit in his hand perfectly and it inspired him to doodle in his notebook while waiting behind the front desk for someone to request his assistance. Except now he was sitting in front of his blank notebook page and his pen was gone from his section of the desk just when he needed it most. He checked for it in the pocket of his jeans, behind the computer monitor, and even poured all the other neglected pens, pencils, and highlighters out of his pen cup to search for it. 

Koushi frowned and stood up to check beneath himself just in case he had sat on it, but it still wasn’t there. He plopped back down in his rolling chair with a sigh, then pushed himself off the end of the counter to roll over to his desk buddy Kenma.

“Kenma-kun, have you seen my pen?” 

Kenma looked up from his phone, which he’d been using shamelessly out in the open without making an effort to even hide it beneath the counter. “Which one?”

“The blue one, like the cheap ones you get from the Dollar Store.”

“Hmm…” the younger boy’s eyes drifted back down to his screen. “I don’t have it.” 

Koushi sighed and wiggled himself around Kenma’s chair with a drag/pull combo of his feet against the carpeted floor to get to another one of his co-workers. 

“Oikawa-kun, have you seen my pen?”

“Hm? Which one?” the brunette asked as he typed away on his computer. 

“It’s blue, cheap, the one I use every day.” 

“Oh, this one?” Oikawa reached out to his own pen cup with one hand and pulled out Koushi’s ballpoint pen without his eyes leaving the monitor screen. 

Koushi snatched his pen away from the other man with a hiss. “You little thief.”

“Hey, I needed a pen, and at the time, yours was the closest.” Oikawa shrugged. 

“Buy yourself some more pens then, don’t take mine.”

“Well, someone’s sassy today,” Oikawa mused and Kenma hummed in agreement from over Koushi’s shoulder. 

“Good morning, everyone,” a gentle voice interrupted before Koushi could respond.

“Top of the morning to you, Aka-chan!” Oikawa chirped, acknowledging their coworker’s arrival. 

Koushi was a bit slow, but he managed to chime in with, “Good morning, Akaashi-kun,” before Kenma mumbled his own greeting of, “‘Morning.” 

“There was a new barista at the coffee shop today,” Akaashi said as he put a cardboard coffee cup holder down on the counter, four paper cups sitting inside of it. “He didn’t look like he knew what he was doing, so I apologize if the coffee is bad.” 

“That’s what you get for shopping at creepy underground places,” Oikawa scrunched up his nose as Akaashi wiggled one cup out of the holder and handed it to him. 

“It’s not a ‘creepy underground place’, it’s a small, family-owned business,” Akaashi replied as he gave everyone their respective drinks. 

Koushi smiled and thanked the black-haired man as he held the cup between his hands, letting the hot coffee inside warm his palms. He lifted the cup to his lips, about to take a sip, but then loud coughing interrupted him. 

“This tastes like shit!” Oikawa shrieked between coughs and Akaashi shushed him when a few people looked over at them. 

“You’re just exaggerating, Oikawa-kun.” Koushi took a sip only to find that it, indeed, tasted like shit. He forced himself to swallow the bitter liquid before hiding his mouth with his hand and nodding. “No, he’s right, that’s terrible.” 

Akaashi frowned. “Is it?” The brunet tasted his own coffee and Koushi cringed as he watched a look of disgust flash over his friend’s face. “Yeah, it is.”

“It tastes fine to me,” Kenma remarked as he sipped his drink. 

“You have taste buds made of steel, then.” Koushi wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and pushed his cup towards Kenma. “It’s all yours.” 

“I’ll take over coffee duty tomorrow, then, since Aka-chan is _clearly_ trying to poison us!” Oikawa trilled as he also set his cup down beside Kenma. 

“If you think it’s poisoned, why are you giving it to me?” Kenma muttered and glanced at Oikawa. 

“I’m too beautiful to die this young!”

Koushi smiled at the two bickering boys before turning his attention to Akaashi. 

“How’s the weather outside today?” Koushi asked, having not been outside since the start of his shift two hours ago. 

“It’s quite cloudy out right now, I believe it’s going to rain again tonight.” 

“Didn’t it rain, like, a few days ago, though?” Oikawa asked, his lips forming a small pout. 

“The weather forecast from this morning said we’ll be getting rain for the rest of the week,” Akaashi said as he logged on to his computer beside Koushi. 

_Rain,_ Koushi thought and smiled to himself, remembering a certain someone who came stumbling into the library with sopping wet clothes about a week ago. 

“Uhm, Suga-chan, you’re creeping me out.” Oikawa’s voice snapped Koushi out of his thoughts. “Why are you smiling like that?” 

“Like what?” Koushi asked as he forced his lips back into a neutral position on his face. 

“Like a pervert.”

Koushi frowned, picked a highlighter from his pencil cup, and flung it at Oikawa, causing the other boy to squeal, “Rude!” 

“What were you thinking about, Suga-san?” Akaashi asked, tilting his head at him. 

“I don’t think I wanna know,” Kenma sighed softly and went back to tapping away on his phone. 

“It’s not a what, it’s more like a who,” Koushi said, picking up his pen and taking the plastic cap off of it. 

Both Oikawa and Akashi paused and looked over at Koushi. Oikawa stopped typing, Akaashi folded his hands down in his lap, and Kenma simply set his phone down to signal that he was all ears.

“Suga-chan, are you _crushing_ on someone?” Oikawa questioned, his voice dropping into a serious tone and his shoulders becoming stiff. 

“Unfortunately for you, no,” Koushi cracked a smile, then snorted when Oikawa’s shoulders gave in to a slump. The brunette lived for drama and, lately, Koushi hadn’t been the one to provide anything to fuel the other man’s need for constant action. “I was just thinking about someone who came in with an overdue book a few days ago.” 

“You mean that guy who was all wet from the rain?” Kenma asked quietly, ripping an old sticky-note into strips that he’d probably just sweep off his desk and into the trash later.

“Ooh, yes!” Oikawa squirmed in his seat with excitement. “I liked him, he looks like the loyal kind of guy. And he’s totally your type!”

“I was just wondering if he was ever able to finish writing the essay he needed that book for,” Koushi said simply, automatically shutting down any suggestion of a crush. Although he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he’d thought about his interaction with Daichi Sawamura quite often since the day they first met - the thought of the awkward, dark-haired man who had come in with an overdue book had lingered in the back of Koushi’s mind whenever he re-organized the shelves or helped someone put a book on hold. He remembered how the edges of Sawamura’s eyes crinkled up when he smiled and how cute he was when he was nervous, or how he stumbled over his words when Koushi addressed him. 

“Well, you know what they say, Suga-chan - the rain brings romance!”

“Nobody has ever said that,” Kenma said dully, crumpling up the strips of paper and throwing them into the trash bin under the counter just as Koushi had predicted. 

“The point is, rain is romantic.”

“It’s not like we met on the street and he offered me his umbrella,” Koushi said. “I just helped him out with a book, you know, like we’re getting paid to do.” 

“Wait, what’s going on?” Akaashi asked, looking puzzled, but Oikawa started talking before Koushi could. 

“Remember when it was raining super hard last week? Well, this guy came in with an overdue book - he was super hot, mind you - and I was trying to help him, but then Suga-chan came and interrupted me and scored points with him!” 

“I didn’t ‘score points’ with anyone, I was doing my job,” Koushi said, but couldn’t help the heat that rose to his cheeks. Maybe he’d been the tiniest bit flirtatious with Sawamura, but it’s not like he was desperate. 

“Lies, Suga-chan. Everything you say is lies.” 

A soft smile took over Akaashi’s lips, which was a rare sight to see, and he said, “Well you never know, maybe the rain will bring him to you again.” 

____

After Koushi’s shift ended, he said goodbye to his coworkers and headed home to his one-bedroom apartment. As soon as he made it through the front door, he dropped his bag and peeled off his jacket. Thankfully, there was only a light sprinkle of rain on his way home, so he had managed to get home with mostly-dry clothes and avoid the risk of catching a cold anytime soon. He locked his front door before making his way to his room, getting undressed as he went.

He tossed his dirty clothes into the hamper that was crammed in the corner of his small walk-in closet before pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a clean t-shirt. He stretched his arms over his head as he walked out of the closet and into the kitchen, turning on the coffee machine to make himself some tea. His body went into autopilot as he found himself a mug from the dishwasher, got a packet of tea from the drawer underneath the coffee machine, and retrieved the carton of soy vanilla creamer from the fridge. He tossed the tea bag into the cup and watched hot water trickle out of the machine until the cup was full before moving the tea bag around and adding a bit of creamer. He put the carton back into the fridge and stood in front of the calendar that was pinned to the back wall of the kitchen as he sipped his hot tea. 

The calendar was, quite frankly, a mess. Sticky notes with scribbled phone numbers hung off the edges, tasks were sloppily written across the span of boxes for the week, and an ever-growing grocery list was taped to the bottom of the page. Koushi looked over the list of things he’d have to do for the current week - work at the library for the rest of the week, pick up coffee for the group tomorrow, go grocery shopping on Wednesday, do laundry on Friday night… 

Koushi sighed to himself and left the kitchen before he got too caught up in his thoughts. He could stand there and stare at his calendar for hours just to overthink and procrastinate, but that won’t get the work done. He sat himself down on the couch, kicked his feet up on the ottoman, and turned on his laptop. He didn’t feel exhausted in the slightest, which would help him get some work done online before getting tired enough to sleep. He sipped his tea as he watched his computer screen take an agonizingly slow time to spark to life. This was the same laptop he’d had since he was in middle school and even though it was slow, it still did the job. Koushi recalled a few years ago when Oikawa had practically begged him to let him buy Koushi a new laptop for Christmas, but Koushi had refused. Yes, his laptop was slow and it was probably infested with tons of viruses, but it still turned on and had connected to the Internet, which is all he needed it to do. 

Once his laptop finally decided to start working, he opened a new window to load up Spotify and put on some music for himself. He started his playlist from the beginning, turned up the volume, then opened a new tab to check his email. He bit his lip as his inbox sparked up on the screen, but then frowned when he saw that he didn’t have any new mail. He refreshed the page a few times before sighing and closing the tab. 

The past few weeks had been torture for Koushi. He had finally decided to apply to a community college after being out of high school for a few years, but he had yet to receive an acceptance email from them. Well, he didn’t expect to get accepted - he had over-worked himself in his last year of high school, and once he graduated, he didn’t want to experience that again for a while, so he took a year or two off of school just to focus on himself. But now, because of that, he was worried he’d overwhelm himself with suddenly throwing himself back into going to class and studying. Everyone else he knew was already in college or had already graduated with a degree, save for one of his high school kouhais who dropped out of college after only a month. Either way, he couldn’t rush the college’s response, he would just have to wait until the time came. 

_The time,_ he thought, leaning his head back to look up at the ceiling. _The time will come when everything is right._ He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the music playing quietly from his laptop speakers. 

_Maybe the rain will bring him to you again,_ Akaashi’s voice wiggled its way into Koushi’s thoughts, causing him to snap his eyes open. The smell of aging glue and damp clothes rushed his senses and a memory of the man, Daichi Sawamura, who entered the library with a wrongly-overdue book, drenched from the pouring rain outside crossed his mind, as faint as a ghost.

“Don’t be stupid, Koushi,” he whispered to himself. “The rain has nothing to do with meeting him.” 

He pushed all thoughts of Sawamura into a mental cardboard box and pictured himself throwing it into a volcano. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about random guys he had met at his job, he could save that all for later. His priority was to make it another week without falling broke and starving to death. 

Speaking of which, getting another job wouldn’t hurt. Working at the library had pretty good pay, considering the work he did, but it was just enough to cover groceries for a week or two, then _maybe_ pay his rent. There were a few times where he couldn’t afford to pay his bills, and he had to stay with Akaashi or Oikawa for a few weeks before he could dish out enough money to revive the running water and working lights he needed in his apartment.

 _God, I hate capitalism,_ he grumbled in his head, before finishing the rest of his tea, closing his tabs, and turning off his laptop. 

New goal: hunt down another job. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. All comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! (◡‿◡✿)

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it to the end, you deserve a cookie. Thank you for reading! All comments, kudos, and constructive criticism are appreciated! (●´ω｀●)


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